DMV – Post 11

Skyla

Friday, July 28th

“Hey ma!” I called out, using my key to let myself into the Kingston household.

“Hey baby!” She shouted from the kitchen, as I looked up from my phone.

I jumped a little over seeing Charlie sitting in the living room, because Shane and Julian were together, and King told me he was at AK’s playing the game, and I still wasn’t used to there being another person in the household.

“Hi,” I said softly, greeting her, waving and walking around the couch to crinkle my nose at the little person in the room. “Heyyyy Karsy pooh!”

She began jumping a little in her moms arms, and we both laughed a bit while I plopped down on the unoccupied couch, but close enough to them for Karsyn to grab my fingers because she was intrigued by my nails.

“Hi Skyla,” Charlie replied softly. “Kaylin went-well I actually don’t know, but he left a while ago.”

“I know, he’s been texting me since I got off work a little while ago.” I cleared my throat. “How are things going between you two?”

She gave me such a dry look that I busted out laughing.

“That good huh?”

“I don’t know how I managed to have a child with such an angry person.”

“He’s not angry.” I pointed out, still sort of weirded out over how little they knew of one another. “King doesn’t really get angry, and very rarely do things get under his skin. He’s honestly just an A1 assh-“

“Skyla Khameron, I know you lying.” Mrs. Lucy chimed in, while walking into the living room, reaching over the couch to pop me. “Watch your mouth.”

“I’m sorry ma,” I giggled, while she reached for her purse. “Where you going?”

“I need a few things from the store to put dinner on before I head to work. I’ll be back shortly. You girls be good.”

Charlie and I both told her good-bye, before we got back into our conversation.

“Like I was saying, I’m sure his actions aren’t really backing up what I’m telling you, but whatever it is that King is with you, it isn’t angry.”

“He needs to understand that I didn’t ask for this situation either. I didn’t go to the party that night knowing that I would end up being a teenage mother. He isn’t the only one who was inconvenienced, or who’s life had to change, though I don’t really see how his changed that much.”

“He’d kill me if I told you this, but before you popped up and told him about Karsyn, King had a full ride to UNC, and I know he gave it up and settled for Georgetown so that he could stay here for her,” I smiled at Karsyn again. “and I’m sure that there were plenty of things that you had to give up as well to be a mom, but I just don’t want you to look at King as if he had nothing to lose by choosing fatherhood. He’s actually really smart, and had an entire plan on how he was going to change both he and his moms living circumstances. Plans that were somewhat thrown off by this adorable new addition.” I coo’d at Karsyn again. “If anything, he’s just bitter about that. Give him some time and he’ll come around.”

The moment the words left my lips, I realized how much I sounded like Jak, when he was trying to comfort KG after King said some fucked up shit to her.

Lord this nigga King was a piece of damn work.

She stayed quiet for a moment, looking me over.

“What?”

“Nothing,” She smiled a little. “I guess I just don’t get how you two are such close friends. You seem so sweet and he, well..”

She rolled her eyes and I laughed.

“We met a long, long time ago. Well before he established the asshole tendencies that he’s manage to perfect and I guess we just clicked cause we both had kind of screwed up childhoods,” I paused for a second. No way was I about to risk King’s wrath by telling her his personal business, but I didn’t mind opening up about mine. “Both of my parents are what are known as functioning addicts. They go to work, pay their bills, but still managed to find the time to get high every chance that they get. That’s why I’m always with who I tend to consider my real family, instead of home. I can’t stand being there ..especially since,” I broke off, staring off for a second before getting my thoughts together. “Since a certain situation they put me in that I barely escaped out of,” Just thinking about that night made me chuckle to keep from crying. “if it wasn’t for ONE saving grace, I have no idea where I’d be in life right now.” I smiled softly, focusing on Karsyn, who had a tight grip on my pointer finger.

“What was it?”

“Honestly, King.” I answered truthfully. “He physically saved me from what would have been a horrible situation. Thank God he and Jak were on their way to pick me up to go see one of Shy’s baseball games.”

Charlie looked as if she could hardly believe that things that I was saying, and I couldn’t help but smile. “He’s really not that bad of a person.”

She again gave me an inquisitive look, before opening her mouth to speak.

“If you don’t mind me asking, what-“

“Bruh you here so damn much you need to be paying rent.” King clowned, letting himself into the house and spying me sitting on the couch.

“Why you always clocking my whereabouts mellow yellow?” I pursed my lips as he took an eager Karsyn from Charlie, flopping down in the empty chair in the living room.

“Watch yo mouth. Where my moms at?”

“She said she had to run out to the store because she forgot something she needed to make dinner before she went to work.” I told him, sitting back on the sofa and glancing at Charlie who looked like she didn’t know what to do or say.

“Ima fry her ass when she get back in here, I keep telling her about going out alone in this damn neighborhood.”

“You know Lucy wishes somebody would try her on the daily.” I snickered.

Mrs. Lucy may saved, but she still didn’t play. People looked at her kids and wondered how she put up with them, but fail to realize that their craziness had to come from somewhere, and I’d never met Marcel, their father, to make a judgement about him; but I’d known Lucy forever and she most definitely was not someone that anybody wanted to sleep on.

“Man you ain’t ever-”

The next few words out of his mouth never made it out, because Mrs. Lucy came flying into the house looking half crazy, shaking, with her shirt ripped, and missing her purse.

King’s eyes literally turned to flames, and I jumped up to take the baby from him, because that rare angry side that I’d warned Charlie about was about to release full force, and nobody needed Karsyn caught in the crossfire.

“What the fuck happened!?” He barked, standing up and leaping over the couch to get to her, damn near knocking poor Charlie off of it in the process.

Mrs. Lucy didn’t say anything, she just stood pressed up against the door, shivering like a leaf.

“Ma tell me what the fuck happened!” King barked in her face, grabbing her shoulders gently to force her to look at him.

“I-I was leaving the store and-“

“Yoooo,” Shy answered the phone call that I’d begun dialing after King took flight. “Sky lemme call you back me and-“

“Shy you gotta come here right now!” I cut across him loudly, my voice panicky.

His demeanor instantly switched up. “Were you at? What’s going on?”

“I don’t know, your mom said she was going to the store and came back and-“

“TELL THAT NIGGA TO BRING HIS MUTHAFUCKIN ASS HERE NOW!” Kaylin bellowed over me, causing Karsyn to cry, and Shy hung up on me.

I guess there wasn’t shit else that he need to hear other than King yelling and me saying something was up with their mom for him to put shit together in his head.

Charlie took the baby from me and left out of the room to try and calm her down, and I went to go grab Mrs. Lucy’s hand and help her sit down to calm her nerves.

Shy

Still Friday

“You sure you good?” I asked my mama for the one millionth time as all of our big asses lay across her bed. She was in the middle, and I was laying on the end, King’s baby ass was right up under her left side, Jak was on her right, and AK was to the left of me, fuming.

After Skyla called me and damn near sent me into cardiac arrest, Jak and I had left the block where we’d been monitoring some of the niggas on his team and came straight here.

Earlier that day, we’d gotten word that Derrick had been hit, something that we were sure Keys was behind, so our nerves were already on edge. Luckily the nigga D was gonna make it. So, when Sky called me about moms, I panicked, thinking that nigga was on some wild shit and coming at our moms.

When we got there she was so shaken up that King had to tell us that she’d gotten mugged leaving the lil corner store a few blocks down. I didn’t think that the two incidents were connected, but whoever had fucked with her must have had a death wish but didn’t have the balls to off themselves, or had just moved in the neighborhood and didn’t know how the fuck shit went down.

Everybody in our hood knew that our mom, Sky, and our sister was off limits, unless you wanted either Jak or I sending your mama our condolences and a bouquet of flowers.

“I’m fine baby,” She smiled a bit, but I knew that deep down, she was shook. Out of all of the years we’d lived in the Highlands, she’d never experienced the type of things that other residents had experienced, and I chalked it up to the power of prayer.

Satan must have been working overtime tonight. Jak shifted in his spot a little bit, and I spared him a glance, wondering what the hell was going on in his head. He and moms relationship was a little rocky over the whole her kicking him out situation, but she’d given that nigga an ultimatum and he choose the streets. I didn’t blame him. They didn’t rock with each other for a long time after that, and she still wouldn’t accept money from him, but lately they’d been getting back on track.

As if he knew I was trying to figure him out, Jak looked at me and nodded towards the bedroom door, I got up and AK followed, but that nigga King wasn’t leaving her side, not that I expected him to. He ain’t need to. He knew we had it.

“Stay here with them,” Jak told AK before giving me a pointed look, and I already knew this nigga was about to be on one.

Joel nodded, and went back in the room, and I followed Jak down the hall that led out into the living room, bypassing Skyla and Charlie, who were sitting on the couch.

“Where are you going?” Sky asked, as I continued to walk. “SHY!”

Turning around, I gave her a look that she knew well, and then followed my brother out of the apartment.

Jak

Friday Vibes

Shy and I didn’t speak to each other during the ride to the corner store. There wasn’t any need to. I knew my little brother well enough to know that we were on the same brain wavelength right now.

I parked my car crooked as fuck, and left it running in the middle of the parking lot, climbing out and storming into the store, my hand on the gun tucked into my waist.

The owner knew me, VERY well, and I could tell from his scared shitless expression that he’d be anticipating my arrival all day.

Slipping my gun from my waist, I pointed it right between his eyes.

“You got two seconds to start talking.” Was all the talking that I was doing before bodies began dropping.

People began running out of the store, screaming and a bunch of extra shit, but I stood there calmly, waiting on my answer.

After a bunch of rambling, I finally got the info outta him about whomever had forcibly snatched my moms purse and was back in the car, heading to a popular rock house to raid it.

It wasn’t long before Shy and I reached our destination, and were walking inside the shitty ass surroundings.

The first thing that Shy did to get the attention of all the crackheads in attendance was a grab a nigga sitting in a metal chair by his throat, and slam him to the ground.

He dropped the nigga so hard I was surprised that his head didn’t split open.

Niggas started trying to scatter, which I expected, so I let off a couple of rounds to calm shit down.

Shy looked over at me with a smirk, and I already knew this nigga was so in his damn zone that if you hadn’t gotten out of the house by now, there was no getting out.

Rarely did the two of us ever do raids, but when we did, Shy didn’t leave any survivors. Tonight wasn’t gonna be any different.

After handling our business, we went back to my place to shower and get rid of our clothes, and then went back to my moms to spend the night, cause the security of having all of us there was something I knew she’d need it.